The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to prepaid electric metering and more specifically, to paying in advance for energy consumed by an electric vehicle and maintaining an account, including an account balance, based on an amount of energy delivered to the electric vehicle.
As electric vehicles and/or hybrid electric vehicles gain popularity, an associated need to accurately manage delivery of electrical energy to them has increased. Moreover, a need to recognize revenue due to the utility that provides the energy has been created by the increased use of such vehicles.
At least some known electric delivery systems provide electric metering at a customer's premises. For example, some of such systems use an encoded magnetic strip that is applied to a card to transfer purchase information between a utility billing office and a utility metering and control device located at the customer's premises. A credit meter stored within the control device deducts a value associated with an amount of electricity consumed at the customer's premises. Some of such systems also enable the use of an emergency card that includes a similar encoded magnetic strip when the customer's account with the pre-purchased amount is exhausted. However, generally such systems are not compatible with use with electric vehicles.
Moreover, at least some known electric delivery systems enable mobile metering of electricity use. For example, some of such systems measure power delivered, while work is performed on a power network, using a mobile meter system (MMS) that receives high voltage inputs by connecting secondary side conductors and neutrals of a substation transformer to designated terminals on the MMS. The MMS then transforms the inputs using metering instruments and provides meterable currents and voltages that are accessible via an external metering cabinet. However, such mobile systems do not measure prepaid electricity delivery to electric vehicles.
Furthermore, at least some known systems provide remote monitoring of electricity consumption. For example, some of such systems provide remote monitoring via wireless communication between a communication device associated with an electric meter and a site controller. More specifically, a communication device receives data from an associated electric meter that is related to an amount of electricity metered, and generates a transmit message to the site controller using a wireless communication network. However, such systems do not measure prepaid electricity delivery to electric vehicles.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for paying in advance for energy to be consumed by an electric vehicle, metering the amount of energy delivered to the electric vehicle, and adjusting an account according to the amount of energy delivered to the electric vehicle.